SUMMER SALAD RESCUE

These layered salads peaked during the days when buffets were popular for backyard parties, church suppers, or neighborhood picnics.  The ingredients varied but the look was always the same; a large glass bowl was filled with layers of chopped and sliced foods.  The salad could be made the day before, refrigerated overnight, and served well chilled the next day.  Iceberg lettuce is looked down on today but it was perfect for this kind of salad for it stayed crispy and fresh, even weighed down by the other ingredients, until it was tossed and mixed with the dressing.  The recipe was a big hit with the cookbook ladies as there were many variations printed in the recipe books.  Cooks played with ingredients, adding what they liked, omitting what they didn’t.  They changed the order of layers, varied the chopped veggies, zipped up the dressing, and even added things like crushed pretzels and chow mien noodles.  However, they never strayed far from this recipe.  This salad reminds me of Cobb Salad that was popular at the same time.  In this salad ingredients are layered in a deep bowl, for the Cobb salad they are artfully arranged atop a bed of lettuce in a large flat bowl.

This is one of those foods that are visually beautiful but can be difficult to serve.  Make certain your bowl is big enough to contain everything without overflowing.   It can turn messy with peas running amok, lettuce free falling, and dressing drooling.  I like thinly sliced vegetables rather than chopped for they are easier to capture with tongs or serving forks used for serving. Tongs work well for they can dig deep allowing one to sample all layers; large salad servers tend to skim the surface so that the first salad eaters may end up with all the eggs, bacon, and dressing, never reaching the lettuce.  You may prefer to toss the salad after presenting it but some of the fun and drama is lost.

I believe the original dressing may have been mayonnaise alone, but the recipe book ladies amended it to their tastes; combination of mayo and ranch is very good.  Some added sour cream, yogurt, or small curd cottage cheese; others tried Thousand Island or creamy French dressing.  The club ladies also changed the kind and amount of vegetables adding red or yellow peppers, cucumbers, water chestnuts, shredded carrots, or cherry or grape tomatoes.  They may have used what was available at the market.  One cook suggested a mix of canned kidney, navy, and garbanzo beans.  Cheddar cheese adds a nice bit of color, but other cheeses have been used; Monterey Jack, with or without hot peppers, Swiss; or Muenster.   You might try blue cheese or feta for an adults only salad.

Summer is the time to rescue this recipe and serve it at patio parties or carry to neighborhood picnics.  Prepared it in the cool of the morning or the night before and refrigerated, the well-chilled glass bowl keeps everything crisp and tasty until time to serve.  Don’t, however, let the salad stand in the hot sun; reveal your masterpiece only when the hungry hordes are ready to begin their attack on the food.

SPLENDID SUMMER SALAD

• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 1 cup, each, chopped or thinly sliced celery, green pepper, and red onion
• 4 hard cooked eggs, sliced
• 1 can green peas, drained, or 1 9-ounce package frozen peas, defrosted
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup ranch style dressing
• 1 to 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 6-ounces shredded mild Cheddar cheese
• 8 slices bacon, crisp cooked and crumbled

Wash lettuce, pat dry, and chop or tear into small bits.  Fill a tall, about 1 1/2 quart, glass bowl a little more than half full with lettuce.  Layer celery, green pepper, and onion, in that order, atop lettuce.  Add a layer of sliced hard cooked eggs, stand a few against the glass, if desired.  Sprinkle peas over all.  Combine the mayonnaise, ranch style dressing, and lemon juice to taste; spoon over the salad and carefully spread to cover the top of the salad.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight or for at least 4 hours.  Uncover and sprinkle crumbled bacon before serving.   Add an extra fluff of cheese to top if desired.  Makes 10 or 12 servings.

SOUPY SALAD DRESSING

Seeing all the bottled salad dressings that fill shelves and refrigerator cases at supermarkets today, it may be hard to imagine there was a time when only a few basic dressings like mayonnaise, ‘Miracle Whip’, and that orange French dressing were available.  Everyone who wanted a change, had made there own and tomato soup was often an ingredient.  Some will remember the steak house on south Wabash that made a name for itself with this sort of dressing.  The salad was so good diners didn’t care if the steak wasn’t prime and aged.  The recipe ladies loved this dressing, although some did make minor changes to suit their tastes.  Here’s a basic recipe that you can tweak.

TOMATO SOUP DRESSING

• 1 10¾ can condensed tomato soup
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup white or cider vinegar
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon celery, garlic or onion salt*
• 1 tablespoon, each, dry mustard & paprika
• ½ to 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce,optional

Combine all ingredients in a blender, food processor, mixing bowl, or quart jar.  Blend, beat, or shake until well mixed.  Store in a jar and shake before using.  Makes about 3 cups.

*Variations: Two tablespoons grated onion, 1 crushed clove garlic; salt to taste.

Serve dressing over iceberg lettuce wedges or toss with a mixed vegetables.